new australorps wont lay

[rossco1]

I've just brought home a dozen 9mth old beaut big ba pullets. The lady who raised them had them nesting in buckets of sand.( the girls looked bloody uncomfortable!!) After 3 days of trying 3 different nesting options(dried sugar cane mulch, straw and even a bucket of light soil from the farm) they have'nt laid at all. I know they were laying an egg each because i watched them! As a last resort i can go down to mooloolaba beach at night and nick some sand, but for goodness sake! I have left eggs from the rir girls in the ba boxes still no good.I'm worried they are going to start having internal problems. There could be other reasons i suppose.We've had ALOT of rain in queensland and the birds do seem to lay off a bit when it's bucketing down.They also were not eating much. The lady fed them just dry hard wheat. They wont eat the layer mash so i'm soaking and shooting wheat to keep their protein up. They love that and are now eating like horses. They're dry, warm(23deg C at night),comfortable and being treated like princesses.(they're free ranging good as gold)Appreciate any suggestions. ross

 

[kstaven]

Change of location stops many chickens from laying for a while. Once they see the new diggs, routine and people as home and flock they will go back to laying. Don't worry about internal problems because of it.

 

[booker81]

Set up a routine that you want to keep, and let them adapt to it. If your RIR girls are on straw for their boxes, let the new girls get used to straw.

Last July when I got a few new girls, none of them laid for a month. After that they settled, and they lay regularly (until they molted). Post molt they are back to laying.

Chickens aren't that big on change

 

[cubalaya]

give them a few weeks. once they start up again, you will get plenty of eggs from them.

 

[sourland]

They are still feeling the stress of the change in home. Once they adjust, they will resume laying. Are you feeding the same feed that the original owner used?

 

[rossco1]

hey thanks for the replies. the lady was feeding them dry wheat and thats all. i fed layer mash and they did'nt eat for 2 days.they're big birds who had never once run around outside they're small coupe so i was'nt worried about they're condition from not eating, but new there would be fewer eggs if they were'nt getting enough protein, so now they're devouring soaked shot wheat and i'll keep adding a little more layer mash until i change them over completely.
o.k. went out this morning and there are 2 eggs on the ground. they have 3 choices of nesting boxes with different materials and they lay on the ground! do you think i should leave the eggs in the box i want them to use to give them the idea? any suggestions if they keep laying on the ground? ross

 

[cobrien]

eat the eggs and put a golf ball or fake/plastic egg in the nest box. make the nesting box the most comfy place in the coop. put them in the nesting box once a day (near laying time if you know when that is or else in the AM) for a few days.

 

[PepsNick]

Do not worry, they'll lay. Just give them time. New homes can be very stressful for chickens.